Pallet for brick cubes and means for handling same



A ril 16, 1963 A. MOLDOVAN PALLET FOR BRICK CUBES AND MEANS FOR HANDLING SAME 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 16, 1960 In van for Attorney April 16, 1963 A. MOLDOVAN 3,085,698

PALLET FOR BRICK CUBES AND MEANS FOR HANDLING SAME Filed Nov. 16, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 45 In ventor 35 Allorn e y A ril 16, 1963 A. MOLDOVAN PALLET FOR BRICK CUBES AND MEANS FOR HANDLING SAME 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 16. 1960 FIG. 7

Inventor fufl Attorney United States Patent 3,085,698 PALLET FOR BRICK CUBES AND MEANS FOR HANDLING SAME Andrew Moldovan, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Toronto Brick Co. Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Nov. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 69,644 9 Claims. (Cl. 214-105) This invention relates to a means for handling stacked brick cubes and the like and more particularly to an improved pallet and associated handling means adapted to permit the ready and economical mechanical handling of such stacked brick cubes.

Bricks and similar articles are conventionally stacked in self-supporting units or cubes of various sizes such as 100, 250, 500, etc. The bricks are so stacked in these cubes that they form a self-supporting unit which can be handled mechanically as such.

When these units or cubes are stacked one upon the other for storage, transportation and the like, however, it is necessary 'to space them from the unit or cube next above or below so that conventional handling equipment such as a fork lift truck may handle each unit or cube separately.

Generally speaking, three methods have been developed for providing this spacing. These methods are (a) the use of a wooden pallet, and (b) strapping of the cubes about spacing legs formed of a row of bricks, and (0) especially designed gripper forks adapted to grip a cube between them.

The conventional wooden pallet consists of a plurality of hardwood legs joined together by a supporting frame. The legs space each cube from that above and below and the forks of a fork lift truck or a similar member of any other handling loading or unloading equipment are inserted into the space between the legs and the whole cube raised, transported and unloaded on the job site on the platform. The principal disadvantage associated with these wooden pallets is the fact that, in order to Withstand the abuse which they encounter in normal usage, the pallet must be made of hardwood. This is expensive, and while the pallet is re-usable, the necessity of calling at any particular job site to recover pallets is time-consuming and thus often neglected and the pallets consequently have a very short life.

It is also possible to strap cubes of bricks. According to this method the brick cube is formed with two or more legs formed by rows of bricks and the whole cube together with these legs is strapped together by means of wire, steel, nylon or other straps. The rows of bricks act as spacing members and permit insertion of the forks or other equipment for lifting and handling and the st-rapping ensures that when the cube is raised and transported, the bricks forming the legs are also conveyed as a unit. The principal disadvantages of strapping are that it is expensive, and the bricks which form the spacing legs and support the cube are easily damaged and are not protected from mud or other damaging conditions existing at the job site.

The disadvantages inherent in the use of the special gripper forks are, first of all, high initial cost, secondly high maintenance cost and the need for frequent maintenance because of the highly sensitive construction of such special equipment and finally the fact that, in common with the strapping method, they afford no protection to the bottom of the cube on the job site.

It is a principal object of this invention, therefore, to provide a means for handling stacked brick cubes which is low in cost and which will permit the ready handling of cubes.

It is another important object of this invention to pro- Patented Apr. 16, 1963 vide such a means as will afford a protection for the bricks on the job site and in the course of handling.

It is another important object of this invention to provide such a means as will provide a disposable pallet eliminating the necessity of recovering the pallet for re-use.

It is another important object of this invention to provide a means for handling such pallets as may readily be adapted to existing brick handling equipment such as standard fork lift trucks, automatic truck unloaders and the like without requiring extensive structural changes thereof.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide such a means as will eliminate the necessity for strapping, conventional pallets, known gripping handling equipment and which, will permit, at the same time, a cube once formed to be handled as a unit and deposited as such at the job site.

These and other advantageous objects will become apparent through a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a stacked brick cube provided with a pallet constructed in accordance with features of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view illustrating a portion of a pallet constructed so as to embody features of this invention in its open form.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the portion of the pallet of FIGURE 2 in its assembled form.

FIGURE 4 is an end view, partly in section, showing a brick cube provided with a pallet constructed in accordance with this invention and showing the action of handling means provided in accordance with the concept of this invent-ion therewith.

FIGURE 5 is a View similar to FIGURE 4 but showing the operative portions of the handling means only.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view showing a brick unloader embodying features of this invention and adapted to handle palletized brick packages formed in accordance with this invention.

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 but on a larger scale with the bricks of the cube removed.

FIGURE 8 is an end view of one rack of the unloading equipment shown in FIGURES 6 and 7, and

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of the pallet forming the subject of this invention similar to FIGURE 3.

This invention consists broadly in the provision of means for handling stacked brick cubes including a pallet adapted to support and space each cube from adjacent cubes, said pallet including an open top box formed of fibrous material and having a bottom and spaced apart side walls with laterally projecting flanges, a plurality of bricks substantially filling the space between the side walls adapted to form thereby at least one spacing leg for the cube, and lifting means adapted to lift the cube and the pallet, said lifting means including pallet flange engaging means adapted to catch the flanges between the flange engaging means and the underside of the cube to handle or transport the same as a unit.

In greater detail and referring now to the drawings, 1 indicates a cube of bricks stacked so as to be self-supporting. 2 and 2a indicate spacing legs generally forming pallets constructed in accordance with features of this invention.

The pallet is preferably formed of sheet material such as, for example, cardboard or other composition board which is preferably waterproof to protect the legs of the unit. It is to be understood, that any sheet material may be used to effect the concept of the invention. Cardboard or other fibrous board commends itself to the application of the invention. Because of its low cost, metal sheet or screening could be used and still achieve many advantages of the invention. The pallet may be formed from a single sheet of such material as is shown in FIGURE 2 with a base portion 3, side walls 4 and 5 and outwardly extending flanges 6 and 7 projecting laterally from the upper portion of the side walls 4 and 5 respectively.

The pallet is also preferably formed with ends 8 and '9 and interlocking slots and flanges as may be seen by reference to FIGURE 2 which in their assembled condition, form the pallet illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 9, the end walls 8 and 9 preferably having inwardly projecting flanges 10 and 11 as shown.

For reasons which will become apparent hereafter, each pallet is also preferably provided with at least two intermediate flanges '12 and 13 extending inwardly of the side walls and formed, according to a preferred embodirnetn by cutting out a portion (12a, 1311) from the outwardly projecting flanges 6 and 7. The space between the side walls 4 and 5 of this open top box is filled with bricks and the height and the spacing apart of the side walls 4 and 5 is such that the bricks 14, 14a, etc., fill the space in the open top box which constitutes the pallet.

The boxes forming the pallet will preferably be of such a size that a single row of bricks laid on their edges will substantially fill the space between the side walls 4 and 5 and the end walls 8 and 9. If this is the case then the inwardly extending end flanges 1t) and 11 will extend over at least the first brick and the inwardly extending side flanges 12 and 13 will extend over at least one and preferably two intermediate bricks of the row filling the space in the box.

Two or more such boxes when filled with bricks as already described form spacing legs for the brick cube in the manner shown in FIGURE 1, the flanges 6 and 7 extending along the lower surface of the cube as may be seen by reference to that figure.

It will now be seen that if conventional lifting and handling equipment is employed in association with a cube of bricks formed as shown in FIGURE 1 with a pallet comprising two fibrous composition open top boxes with their lateral projecting flanges 6 and 7, the handling equipment such as the forks of a fork lift truck may be inserted into the space between the boxes 2 and 2a and along the outside of each of boxes 2 and 2a. If this fork lift truck then raises the cube, the forks or other handling means will catch the flanges 6 and 7 between the forks and the bottom of the cube and transport the pallet constituting the spacing legs and including the fibrous composition box and the bricks filling the space therein, with the cube 1.

It will also be appreciated that the fibrous boxes, particularly if they are given some measure of waterproofing, will not only space one cube from another cube on which it is stacked, but will also protect the bricks which occupy the space within the fibrous composition boxes and which constitute the cube spacing and supporting ns, from soiling or damage.

The intermediate inwardly extending side flanges 12. and 13 which in use will be caught between the bricks in the spacing leg and the underside of the cube will serve to maintain the side walls 4 and 5 in a vertical position and thus strengthen the entire unit when it is moved by catching projecting side flanges 6 and 7 between the cube and the lifting mechanism. The inwardly projecting end flanges 10 and 11 which will also be engaged between the bricks forming the spacing leg and the underside of the cube, will serve to hold the box and its bricks together as a unit. It also should be noted that end flanges 10 and 11 are assisted in their function of supporting bottom 3 at the ends thereof by the provision of flanges which depend from end flanges 10 and 11 and which are turned downwardly, as best seen in FIGURES 3 and 9. These downwardly turned flanges extend toward bottom 3 and are sandwiched between adjacent bricks in the lower layer -of bricks so as to provide a :rigid supporting pallet, as best shown in FIGURES 3 and 9.

The most serious problem resulting through a use of this particular type of pallet results from the necessity of maintaining the side walls 4 and 5 in proper relationship to the flanges 6 and 7 when these are caught between the lifting means and the bottom of the cube. To this end it is sometimes desirable to provide means on the lifting mechanism adapted to preserve this relationship and to obviate any tearing of the box between the flanges 6 and 7 and the side walls which might result through rough handling.

Referring now to FIGURES 4 and 5, the conventional forks 20, 21 and 22 of a fork lift truck may be provided with small buffers of rubber 23, 24, 25 and 26 above each corner thereof which is contiguous to the side wall of a box when the truck is lifting a cube.

If the forks are designed (as they should be) to raise the cubes by engaging the flanges 6 and 7 at a point near the side walls 4 and 5, these rubber buffers will be deformed by the load of the cubes in the manner shown in FIGURE 4 and will serve to hold the side walls 5 and 6 closely against the bricks which fill the inside of the space between the side walls and thus successfully reduce the tendency of the flanges to tear at the point where the side walls 5 and 6 meet the side flanges 6 and 7.

Most modern trucks used to transport brick cubes are provided with mechanical powered unloaders of various types and systems. One type of unloader generally comprises two side racks with rails extending between the side racks, the side racks being powered vertically and horizontally by means of a separate engine mounted on the truck body or by means of a power take-off from the truck itself. The rails between the end racks serve the same purpose as the fork of a conventional fork truck i.e. they are inserted into spaces between the pallet spacing legs or the strapped brick legs to bear against the lower surface of the cube and raise the cube as a whole.

Other unloaders are equipped with forks of the same type as the lift trucks working in a similar way to raise one or more cubes together to or from the vehicle.

All such types of equipment may similarly be modified for the handling of brick cubes palletized in accordance with this invention in the manner already described with reference to fork lift trucks and illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5, by the provision of similar rubber buflers adapted, under loading, to hold the side walls of the box against the bricks filling the space between the side walls.

It is to be understood that the principles of the invention may be applied to any form of mechanical unloader with obvious modifications well within the scope of this invention. Since the invention does not lie in the handling equipment per se, but rather in the formation of a palletized cube as already described, it will further be appreciated that no specialized handling equipment is required and indeed that the cubes may be handled advantageously without special powered equipment and still achieve many of the advantages of the invention.

The following, however, is a description of a piece of unloading equipment related to a mechanical unloader of the class in extensive use at the present time. While not to be construed as a limitation of the invention, it will assist in a better understanding of the precise nature of the invention.

FIGURE 6 illustrates conventional side racks 30 and 31 adapted to be used by such conventional power unloading equipment. In the illustration of FIGURE 6, these racks are being used to raise two cubes of bricks and the side racks are joined by longitudinally extending rails 32, 33, 34- and 35 which are inserted at either end through suitable apertures provided in the end rails.

As may be seen by reference to FIGURE 7, when adapted to the means which forms the subject of this invention, these longitudinally extending rails are adapted to raise the cubes by engaging the projecting side flanges 6 and 7 at a point as close to the side walls 4 and 5 as possible. These rails will also preferably be provided ever, that the invention is with the rubber buffers illustrated in detail in FIGURES 4 and 5.

When such side rails are used, means may conveniently be provided for permitting a fine adjustment of the lateral position of the rails to cause them to catch the side flanges 6 and 7 between the cubes and the rails in close proximity to the position of the side walls so that the rubber butters may act as they are shown to act in FIGURE 4. In this connection an adjusting wedge such as 41 may be provided, this wedge having a slot 42 and being moveably secured to the rack and rail as by means of a pin 43 so that the wedge may move up and down on the pin and cause a fine lateral adjustment of the rails 33 and 34 thereby. A similar adjusting means in the form of plates 45 and 46 having slots 47 and 48 and mounted to the frame by means of pins 49 and 50 permitting adjustment of the plates from left to right when viewed in FIGURE 8 will permit a similar adjustment of the rails 20 and 22 thus permitting the rails to catch the flanges 6 and 7 of the boxes between the brick cubes and the rails in a close enough position to the side walls 4 and to permit buffers 23, 24, 2'5 and 26 to act as shown in FIGURE 4.

The invention has been described with particular reference to the handling of brick cubes. It will be appreciated that the invention is not to be constructed as being limited to the precise constructional details. The invention has application in any field in which it is necessary or desirable to stack or handle packaged units of any kind one upon the other.

The invention has moreover been described with reference to particular preferred embodiments and for ease of description has been described with reference to certain constructional details. It is to be understood, hownot limited in its application or construction to the precise examples shown; and such embodiments of the invention as come Within the scope and purview of the appended claims are to be considered as part of this invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Means for handling a plurality of stacked bricks comprising a pallet adapted to support said stacked bricks, said pallet comprising at least one open top box having a bottom, spaced apart end walls having laterally inwardly projecting flanges and spaced apart side walls having laterally outwardly projecting flanges, and means interlocking said side walls and said end walls, said laterally inwardly projecting flanges having downwardly turned flanges extending towards said bottom, a plurality of bricks substantially filling the space between said side walls and said end walls and being supported by said bottom, some of said last mentioned bricks being positioned between said bottom and said inwardly projecting flanges, said downwardly turned flanges being positioned between adjacent bricks in said open top box and being securely held therebetwecn so as to provide a rigid supporting pallet, a plurality of stacked bricks positioned on said pallet, at least some of said stacked bricks extending over said inwardly and outwardly projecting flanges, and lifting means including pallet flange engaging means adapted to catch and sandwich said outwardly projecting flanges between said pallet flange engaging means and said stacked bricks to handle said stacked bricks and said pallet as a unit, said inwardly projecting flanges being sandwiched between said bricks positioned between said bottom and said inwardly projecting flanges and said bricks extending over said inwardly projecting flanges.

2. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 1 wherein said open top box is formed of fibrous composition sheet material.

3. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 2 wherein said open top box has a waterproofing coating applied to at least the outer surface thereof.

4. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 1 wherein an intermediate laterally inwardly projecting flange is provided on each of said side walls, said intermediate inwardly projecting flanges being sandwiched between said bricks in said open top box and said stacked bricks and being adapted to retain said side walls in a vertical position.

5. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 4 wherein said intermediate inwardly projecting flanges are portions cut out of said outwardly projecting flanges and reversely bent, the depth of said intermediate inwardly projecting flanges being less than the width of said outwardly projecting flanges, whereby said outwardly projecting flanges bridge the spaces left therein by said intermediate inwardly projecting flanges.

6. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 1 wherein said pallet flange engaging means catch said outwardly projecting flanges adjacent said side walls.

7. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 6 including a buffer of deformable material provided on said pallet flange engaging means, said buffer engaging said outwardly projecting flanges and retaining said outwardly projecting flanges and said side walls in substantially perpendicular relationship.

8. Means for handling a plurality of stacked bricks comprising a pallet adapted to support said stacked bricks, said pallet comprising two open top boxes each having a bottom, spaced apart end walls having laterally inwardly projecting flanges and spaced apart side walls having laterally outwardly projecting flanges, and means interlocking said side walls and said end walls, said laterally inwardly projecting flanges having downwardly turned flanges extending towards said bottom, a plurality of bricks substantially filling the space between said side walls and said end walls and being supported by said bottom, some of said last mentioned bricks being positioned between said bottom and said inwardly projecting flanges, said downwardly turned flanges being positioned between adjacent bricks in said open top boxes and being securely held therebetwecn so as to provide a rigid supporting pallet, a plurality of stacked bricks positioned on said pallet, at least some of said stacked bricks extending over said inwardly and outwardly projecting flanges, and lifting means including pallet flange engaging means adapted to catch and sandwich said outwardly projecting flanges between said pallet flange engaging means and said stacked bricks to handle said stacked bricks and said pallet as a unit, said inwardly projecting flanges being sandwiched between said bricks positioned between said bottom and said inwardly projecting flanges and said bricks extending over said inwardly projecting flanges.

9. Means for handling stacked bricks according to claim 8 wherein said lifting means'includes two spaced apart side rails and a plurality of load lifting bars, said load lifting bars extending between said side rails and catching said outwardly projecting flanges between said load lifting bars and said stacked bricks, said load lifting bars being provided with buffers of deformable material adapted to engage said outwardly projecting flanges, and means for adjusting the lateral position of said load lifting bars relative to said side rails.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,714,483 Randles Aug. 2, 1955 2,822,206 Mackenzie Feb. 4, 1958 2,896,798 Celley July 28, 1959 

1. MEANS FOR HANDLING A PLURLITY OF STACKED BRICKS COMPRISING A PALLET ADAPTED TO SUPPORT SAID STACKED BRICKS, SAID PALLET COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE OPEN TOP BOX HAVING A BOTTOM, SPACED APART END WALLS HAVING LATERALLY INWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES AND SPACED APART SIDE WALLS HAVING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES, AND MEANS INTERLOCKING SAID SIDE WALLS AND SAID END WALLS, SAID LATERALLY INWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES HAVING DOWNWARDLY TURNED FLANGES EXTENDING TOWARDS SAID BOTTOM, A PLURALITY OF BRICKS SUBSTANTIALLY FILLING THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS AND SAID END WALLS AND BEING SUPPORTED BY SAID BOTTOM, SOME OF SAID LAST MENTIONED BRICKS BEING POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID BOTTOM AND SAID INWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES, SAID DOWNWARDLY TURNED FLANGES BEING POSITIONED BETWEEN ADJACENT BRICKS IN SAID OPEN TOP BOX AND BEING SECURELY HELD THEREBETWEEN SO AS TO PROVIDE A RIGID SUPPORTING PALLET, A PLURALITY OF STACKED BRICKS POSITIONED ON SAID PALLET, AT LEAST SOME OF SAID STACKED BRICKS EXTENDING OVER SAID INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES, AND LIFTING MEANS INCLUDING PALLET FLANGE ENGAGING MEANS ADAPTED TO CATCH AND SANDWICH SAID OUTWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES BETWEEN SAID PALLET FLANGE ENGAGING MEANS AND SAID STACKED BRICKS TO HANDLE SAID STACKED BRICKS AND SAID PALLET AS A UNIT, SAID INWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES BEING SANDWICHED BETWEEN SAID BRICKS POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID BOTTOM AND SAID INWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES AND SAID BRICKS EXTENDING OVER SAID INWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGES. 